FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, October 13, 2017

Queens Man Sentenced To Seven Years in Prison for
Mowing Down NYPD Detective with ATV

Dragged Victim for about a Block, Causing Serious Injuries

Acting Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez today announced that a 36-year-old Queens man has been sentenced to seven years in prison for dragging a New York City Police Department detective with an ATV, causing fractures and broken bones, after he was instructed to stop the vehicle at a Brooklyn intersection.

Acting District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said, “This defendant was driving recklessly before injuring a courageous officer who tried to stop him. Such lawless behavior on our roads is dangerous and unacceptable, making him fully deserving of the prison sentence that was imposed today.”

The Acting District Attorney identified the defendant as Kenny Ortiz, 36, of Ozone Park, Queens. He was sentenced today by Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice William Harrington to seven years in prison and five years’ post-release supervision following his guilty plea last month to attempted aggravated assault on a police officer.

The Acting District Attorney said that, according to the investigation, on March 2, 2014, at approximately 3:25 p.m., on Conduit Boulevard by Pitkin Avenue in East New York, Brooklyn, the defendant was observed recklessly driving a yellow ATV through streets and sidewalks. NYPD Detective Matt McCluskey and his partner were in the area in plain clothes and inside an unmarked van.

At a red light, the detectives exited their vehicle. Detective McCluskey, wearing his badge around his neck, jumped in front of the ATV and yelled, “Police, police, turn the engine off,” according to the evidence. The defendant then drove forward, dragging the detective for the approximate length of a city block, and sped away.

The victim was taken to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center. He suffered numerous broken bones, a fractured pelvis, fractured orbital bone, and a broken nose as well as an infection from an open leg wound and a punctured ankle.

After the police received a tip regarding his identity, the defendant turned himself in on March 7, 2014. In a statement, he admitted to driving the ATV and claimed that he didn’t know the victim was a police officer. The dismantled ATV was subsequently recovered from the defendant’s girlfriend’s garage.

The case was prosecuted by Senior Assistant District Attorney Katherine Fernandez and Assistant District Attorney Robert Schwartz of the District Attorney’s Red Zone Trial Bureau, under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney Kin Ng, Bureau Chief, and the overall supervision of the Assistant District Attorney Joseph Alexis, Chief of the Trial Division.